Field Trip
by LurkerLa
Summary: Palim seemed to be a nice safe planet. Of course, the instant John escorted Elizabeth through the gate, things had to go wrong.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The characters of Stargate: Atlantis do not belong to me. I'm just taking them out for a spin.

Characters: Team fic, plus Lorne. Shep/Weir pairing more obvious toward the end.

Rating: T, for language and some icky stuff

Spoilers: Pretty much all of the first two seasons, but specifics for Hide and Seek, Seige II, and Duet.

Author's Note: This fic is already complete, so I'm posting all four chapters and the epilogue at once. I know I'd probably get more reviews if I did one a day, like I did with the werewolve fic, but this one I'm done editing and it can be published in its entirety! Hope you enjoy!

* * *

On any other occasion John Sheppard was escorting Elizabeth Weir through the stargate, he would have been relieved to find a peaceful and quiet planet on the other side. This time, however, he took one look at the silent clearing in front of him and immediately swung up his weapon.

He glanced behind him to see that the rest of his team – at least the usual fighting contingent – were also ready for combat. The final two members were engaged in conversation, one of them, as usual, completely unaware of the wrongness of their situation.

"... why you can't understand how important this is!" Rodney McKay was saying to Elizabeth. He turned toward John. "You have to talk to her. She'll – " He broke off sharply as Teyla Emmagan turned to him sharply and hissed his name.

"What?" he asked, then blinked as if noticing their surroundings for the first time. "Where is everybody?"

Ronon Dex seemed to be thinking about turning his weapon on the physicist. Noticing the impatient looks of John and Major Lorne, Elizabeth decided she'd rather not have to explain to the SGC why she'd let her chief scientist be killed by friendly fire. "Rodney!" she said sharply.

Rodney turned to look at her, seeming about to protest, but something in her face stopped him. This was clearly not the time to disagree.

Elizabeth turned back to the leader of this little foray offworld, worried. John had indicated that they had little to fear from the Palimins, but something was clearly wrong now. She wanted to ask him what, but judging from his hyper-alertness, and that of the rest of the team (sans Rodney, of course) she decided it might be best to wait.

Satisfied that his team was finally in order, John signaled them to move out. He took point, Teyla in the middle, while Ronon guarded their rear. Lorne moved up to cover Elizabeth; protecting her was his primary mission on this trip.

As they entered the clearing, they found banked fires and neatly arranged packs of food. Tables had been arranged, but the settings and other accoutrements of the feast that was supposed to have greeted the team were still packed neatly away. There was no sign of their hosts.

The Palimins had been eager to trade, and the abundance of wildlife, both plant and animal, on the planet would have added some much needed variety to the diet on Atlantis, as well as provided plentiful seed for the Athosians on the mainland. The Palimins had only one requirement for the negotiations; they wanted to seal it with John's superior. They promised that if Elizabeth were present for the initial negotiations, they could guarantee that the trade agreements would never expire, even if leadership in the Palimin community should change hands.

John had been forced to take the demands back to Elizabeth. As much as he respected Elizabeth's skills, it worried him to have her offworld. At least when she was on Atlantis, he knew that whatever trouble he might get into, she was still safe. Well, safe as long as the Wraith didn't see through their ruse. Or as long as another giant storm didn't appear. And if no more weird shadowy thingies were found in the labs.

But still, safer than he felt she would be out there with him.

So he tried his best to express disapproval during the meeting in which he presented the Palimin demands. After the initial briefing, Elizabeth said she would think on the matter, then asked him to stay in her office.

She sat down behind her desk, and John took the seat on the other side. He found the couches more comfortable, but he felt like she might take this more seriously if he sat in a real chair.

Leaning back in her chair, she crossed her arms. "What's your threat assessment, John?"

"The Palimins are peaceful," he admitted. "The planet seems quiet enough, and they claim to have never heard of the Wraith."

As he hoped, she picked up on the key word. "Claim?"

He settled back in his own chair. "All their history seems to start about two thousand years ago. But from what Rodney could tell, all their structures are much older. So something happened that wiped out a lot of the population, around two thousand years ago."

He could see that Elizabeth was weighing his words, and he appreciated the trust she showed in him. Now if only she wouldn't ask any more questions...

At last she leaned forward, steepling her fingers on the desk. "Have you considered that it might have been a natural disaster?"

John sighed. He'd known she would ask, and truthfully he'd probably have told her if she hadn't. He could justify keeping some things from her, but this wasn't one of them. "Yeah," he said. "Rodney said there appears to have been some kind of planet wide tectonic upheaval about the time their stories begin."

Distracted slightly, Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. "Rodney said? When did he become a geologist?"

John grinned at that. "I think he's trying to impress Katie Brown with his knowledge of something other than physics. I'm pretty sure it was Lieutenant Cadman's idea."

"But Katie's a botanist. Why geology? Wouldn't botany make more sense?"

"They're the only scientists who would help him without telling the whole city that Rodney doesn't know everything. I think he wanted to start with a 'real' science, but the chemists wouldn't have him. And botany is definitely not a 'real' science."

Elizabeth laughed at that. "He hasn't told Katie that, I hope." Smoothing her face out, she turned back to the topic at hand. "Tell me honestly, John. Is it too dangerous for me to go?"

He fidgeted a little in his chair, but couldn't lie to her. "No."

"Then why are you so reluctant?"

"Because," he sighed, "lately whenever we go to a planet that seems too good to be true, it usually is."

Elizabeth considered this. She usually trusted John's instincts, but she couldn't allow his overprotectiveness to prevent Atlantis from acquiring some much needed resources. She opened her mouth to say as much, but he beat her to it.

"There's no reason you can't go," he said, although she heard a hint of sulkiness in his voice. "We really could use what they're offering. I just... it makes me worry when you're offworld," he admitted reluctantly.

She smiled at him, but continued speaking before he began to feel awkward. "If it makes you feel better, bring Major Lorne along to look after me." After all, it wouldn't do to have the mission leader too worried about protecting her to function properly.

John agreed to the suggestion. It would make him feel better. He was sure that the young major was a little in love with their beautiful expedition leader, but he believed that it meant Lorne would only try harder to protect her.

Of course, if Lorne ever got unprofessional with her, John would have to kick his ass.

John was just leaving her office when she spoke up again. "And, John? I'll follow your lead in any military situation, but you have to know that I'll be in charge when it comes to the negotiations. No jumping in just because you don't like the way things are going."

He nodded sheepishly, remember a past instance when the negotiator for another planet had insulted her, rather badly. He'd leapt over the table, grabbing the man by the neck of his shirt. How was he supposed to know that trading insults was a part of their bargaining process? Of course, Elizabeth had pointed out that she'd briefed him about it before they left, but... still!

So here they were on a foreign planet, a peaceful foreign planet, and of course everything had gone wrong the moment they stepped through the gate.

The group worked their way past the clearing, seeing no clue as to where their greeting party had gone. When they reached the village without seeing any people, John chose the tavern as the most defendable location. They took shelter inside.

"Okay," he began. "This can't be good."

Rodney repeated his earlier question. "Where is everyone?"

Elizabeth could see that John was tempted to snap at the scientist. The two were normally friends, of a sort, but John had already been on edge because of her presence, and the strange lack of people had him tightly wound. She stepped in. "I think that's what we're trying to figure out, Rodney."

"Wherever they have gone, they were in no hurry as they left," Teyla said from her position by the bar. "Everything has been recently cleaned and carefully stored."

"So... what?" Lorne asked, not looking up from his post at one window. "All the people just packed everything up and disappeared?"

John started to reply, but Ronon, by a window on the other side of the door, cut him off. "Not just the people."

"What?" John asked.

"It's not just the people," Ronon repeated. When John simply raised his eyebrows, Ronon continued. "Did you hear any birds on the way here? And the livestock pens were all closed and locked, but empty."

There was a moment of silence as the rest of the group considered this. "Perhaps they took the livestock with them," Elizabeth offered.

John shook his head. "Ronon's right. What about the birds and wildlife? We should have seen some – there were a lot of animals here."

"We should leave," Rodney declared. When the rest looked at him, he became a little defensive. "What? There's no other reason to use this planet – no power source, no technology – except for food, and whatever the Palimins said about there being no big predators, if something here is large enough to take out an entire village, I, for one, don't want to eat it."

"And what about the Palimins, Dr. McKay?" Teyla asked. "Should we not attempt to discover what has happened to them?"

Lorne glanced nervously at Elizabeth. "I agree with McKay. We don't know what happened here, and I think we should at least get Dr. Weir back through the gate."

Elizabeth frowned. "We don't know what happened to them. We can't leave until we know more. What if they need help? I can't leave until we see." On the last sentence, she looked directly at John.

He recognized the determination in her eyes. As much as he would prefer to have Elizabeth safely on Atlantis, he knew she wouldn't agree to go easily. He could order her – this was a military situation if there ever were one – but he felt that doing so would cause even more problems down the line.

At the first sign of real danger, though, he was going to have Lorne drag her back to Atlantis, willing or not. He'd do it himself, but if that happened he'd probably be a little busy shooting something.

He turned to look at Teyla and wasn't the least bit surprised when she tilted her head towards Elizabeth and simply said, "I agree."

John glanced back at Ronon, noticing that the big man was watching Teyla. He looked briefly at John, and then returned his attention to the window. "Well?" John prompted.

"Stay."

John nodded. He wanted to know what had happened here, too.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer etc. in first chapter.

Author's Note: Hmm... it occurs to me I have nothing to say here...

* * *

They began their search for answers in the empty houses of the village and when that proved fruitless soon moved into the surrounding forest. 

The silence was eerie. All the underlying sounds John had come to associate with nature were missing. There were no chirping birds, no buzzing insects, only the soft rustle of the breeze stirring in the leaves of the trees. The quiet concerned him more than any sounds could have, and his kept his eyes on the trees.

Ahead of him ranged his team. He'd had Ronon take point, knowing that the newest resident of Atlantis was the best tracker. Rodney followed Ronon nervously, one hand on his sidearm. He occasionally opened his mouth as if to make some comment, but was quickly silenced by a look from Teyla or Lorne, who were just ahead of John, flanking Elizabeth.

Elizabeth herself looked a bit nervous. John had tried to give her a gun, but she had refused, and so she was armed only with a knife borrowed from Teyla. John could tell from the way she held it that she knew how to use it, although he suspected it had been several years since she'd had any practice. He tucked that knowledge away in the back of his mind, thinking he might ask her about it later but knowing he never would, and that if he did, she wouldn't answer.

John turned his gaze back to woods around him, alert for any sign of human passage not made by his own team, waiting to hear a sound, any sound. If they didn't find some clue that the villagers had come this way soon, they would have to head back to Atlantis.

He was just about to call a halt when Ronon spoke up. "Over here," he said, drawing their attention to an area to their left. He pointed to some bent branches and broken undergrowth.

The group proceeded even more cautiously now, following the path of trampled greenery through an increasingly sparse forest, until they came upon what appeared to be entrance to a cave system.

"The tracks go in here," Teyla observed.

"All right," John said. "Lorne, Ronon and Elizabeth will stay out here. Rodney, Teyla, we're going in there.

* * *

Elizabeth seated herself on a nearby rock – or was it a root? She couldn't tell – and watched the two men left to guard her. She was slightly irritated that John seemed to think she needed so much protection. It wasn't like she hadn't been offworld before – hell, she'd gone alone to the Genii and negotiated for their help while blindfolded and tied up! And while the situation here on Palim was certainly eerie, there had been no indication that dangerous animals or humans were about to attack them. She would have been fine with just Major Lorne.

Plus, she was just as curious as the rest of them, and she wanted to see what was in that cave.

She contemplated simply ignoring John's orders and going into the cave anyway, but she knew he'd be upset if she did, and she _had_ given her word to follow his direction in a military situation.

Lorne stood a few feet to her left, close enough, she noticed, that he could easily get to her in case of trouble, but not so close as to crowd her. She appreciated that; Lorne seemed to have an almost instinctual knowledge of how to work with her. Despite that, she found herself wishing that it were John out here with her. As much as she enjoyed Lorne's company he wasn't as easy to talk to as her military commander was.

Elizabeth shifted her gaze to her other companion. Ronon was pacing the tree line, looking for any other signs of life. While the former runner had opened up a fair amount during his stay on Atlantis, Elizabeth still wasn't entirely comfortable around him. She knew he respected John and admired Teyla, but she wondered sometimes how he felt about her.

As she watched him, he suddenly arrowed in on another set of tracks. "Looks like some of them went this way," he said.

Elizabeth moved to join him. "So it does," she replied. Then, deciding she was tired of playing the helpless female, because, damn it, she was the leader of this entire expedition, she added, "We should follow them."

She immediately suited action to words, and moved forward into the trees, knowing Ronon and Lorne would follow. There was no reason she couldn't be aiding in this mission, and why she shouldn't be safe. John had told her there were no large predators on this planet, and she trusted Ronon and Lorne to protect her from any human threats.

Behind her she heard Lorne's muttered "Shit," followed by the sound of him radioing John to tell the other man that they were leaving. She felt something large brush by her, and then Ronon was in the lead again, following the trail. Yes, this was much better than doing nothing.

* * *

Inside the cave, John echoed Lorne's expletive as the Major finished reporting. "Damn it, Elizabeth," he muttered, before telling Lorne he'd better stick to her like glue, "or else." Turning to Teyla and Rodney, he said, "Looks like we're on our own down here; no watch at the entrance anymore. Teyla, you watch our six."

They continued forward through the cave, noticing that the walls were so covered in vines and roots as to obscure the rock beneath. "There are no turnoffs," Rodney observed. "That's weird, isn't it?" He turned to Teyla, and when she didn't reply he looked to John. "Isn't it?" he repeated.

"I don't know, McKay, you're the budding geologist. Look, I think it ends just ahead."

The cave did end, in another root smothered wall. "Something is definitely not right," Rodney said. "This passage is too straight, too geometrical. It's like nothing I've ever heard about."

John refrained from pointing out that Rodney had only been working with the geologists for a little over a week. The physicist was right – something was definitely off with this cave. The feeling intensified when Rodney stepped on something and let out a little shriek. He leapt back and the three of them leaned in to see what he had stepped on.

They were staring in horrified silence at the skeletal hand that was reaching between two of the roots on the wall when Elizabeth's voice came over the radio. "John? We've found some of the villagers."

Greatly disturbed, John toggled his radio. "Yeah, well, we found something here, too..."

* * *

Ronon was staring in concern at the man in front of him. He recognized Alarad, the leader of the Palimin villagers, but the other man showed no sign that he knew Ronon.

"You're saying that you don't remember meeting Ronon at all?" Lorne asked.

"No," Alarad said again, sounding a little irritated. "As I said when you first came upon us, we have been on a hunting trip the last few days, and have met no one."

"You don't remember setting up a feast in front of the gate?" Ronon said suspiciously. "You don't remember agreeing to trade us food for medical supplies and training?"

Alarad shook his head. "I have never seen you before in my life. And why would we trade with you? We have all we need."

"Are there others among your people who might remember?" Elizabeth put in, noticing that the group in front of them numbered far less than the group John had described in his briefing.

At that, Alarad shot her a look of surprise. "Others of our people? This is all our people. We are a small community, but we hope to grow soon," and with that he turned a fond look to a young woman at the back of the group, her body rounded with pregnancy.

Ronon looked shaken. "All? There were more of you yesterday. Where is Kalin?" he asked, looking for Alarad's sister, who had run the tavern when they first came to the planet.

Alarad's expression was a mixture of confusion and concern. "I do not know any Kalin. Why is it you refuse to believe me? I... we do not know you!"

Leaving Lorne and Ronon to deal with the villagers for a moment, Elizabeth moved to one side and tapped her radio. "John? We've found some of the villagers."

She really didn't like his tone when he came back saying they'd found something too. There was a moment of silence, and she suspected he was conferring with Rodney and Teyla, and then he was back. "Elizabeth? We're going to come to you, and I hope these guys have some answers for us."

Elizabeth couldn't help but think that John was going to be disappointed.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer etc. in first chapter.

Author's Note: Things get a little icky here - and by icky I mean gross. I can't seem to help myself with the blood and guts.

* * *

Elizabeth was right, and John was disappointed. Disappointed and angry, but there was nothing he could do about it. As far as anyone could tell, the Palimins, at least those that they had found so far, were suffering from the strangest case of amnesia they'd ever heard of. There were no answers forthcoming about the skeletal hand or the whereabouts of the rest of the Palimins. Deciding that their best course of action was to determine what had happened to the people they could find, Elizabeth sent back to Atlantis and asked Carson to come take a look at them. 

The Palimins were quite upset by this time. As far as they knew, nothing was wrong. They had no recollection of the people from Atlantis, nor of the rest of their people, and they insisted that they'd spent the last few days on a hunting trip. They knew of the Stargate and the existence of the other worlds, but much of their history seemed to be missing – they could only seem to remember as far back as the start of their supposed hunting trip. Still, none of these inconsistencies seemed to bother them, and they were mostly worked up by John's insistence that they go nowhere until Carson had looked them over. Alarad had only agreed to it after John had promised to let them return to their village unmolested if they complied.

It was several hours later, and darkness was closing in, when they all returned to the village. It had been a long day for most of them, and even Carson, after running tests on so many people ,was feeling a little worn out. They took shelter ion one of the empty houses

"Well?" Elizabeth prompted once they all settled. "What did you find, Carson?"

The doctor shook his head. "I'm not sure, Dr. Weir. It almost seems as if they've been drugged, but I can't tell with what. I can't even tell for sure that they were. Aside from the memory loss, they all seem perfectly healthy, although I did get Galira, the pregnant girl, to admit that she does remember falling asleep in the middle of the day today. Still, that's not entirely unexpected in her condition, and none of the others said anything about it."

"Have we learned anything about the hand or the caves?" John asked the room at large.

Everyone shook their heads. "I spoke with Alarad," Teyla said, "but he doesn't even seem to be aware of the cave's existence."

"Right," John said, looking around the room. Rodney was sitting at a table, resting his elbows on the surface and cradling his head in his hands. Elizabeth was leaning against one wall, looking weary but interested. Ronon was inscrutable, as usual, but John could tell that Teyla and Carson were also tired. Hell, even the indefatigable Major Lorne looked a bit wiped out, and John's own eyes were stinging slightly. "Okay, I say we all get some sleep tonight, and we'll take a look at the cave in the daylight."

"Shouldn't we go back to Atlantis?" Carson asked, although he really wasn't looking forward to moving any time soon. "I could run some more extensive tests with the equipment in the infirmary."

John shook his head. "We still don't know exactly what happened to these people, and I'd rather not go stumbling around in the dark. Besides, I want to stay here, where they can't easily throw us out. I don't want to come back through the gate in the morning and find out they're waiting to ambush us. Your tests'll have to wait a bit."

Although the rest of the team had come prepared to stay the night, expecting the festivities surrounding the trade agreement to last until nearly dawn, Carson had brought little but medical equipment with him. Fortunately, the previous occupants of the house had thoughtfully folded clean linens and left them on a bed before disappearing, so the team was able to make do. John, Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne worked out the watch, and Teyla took first shift in a chair by the front window.

* * *

It was not an easy night for anyone. The events of the day, beginning with the strange silence and vacant village and ending with the strange case of mass amnesia, had left them all more than a little disturbed, and they all found it difficult to sleep.

When morning finally dawned, the exhausted group quietly gathered their belongings and headed toward the cave. This time they all entered, moving quickly to the back of the cave. Carson knelt next to the hand, examining it.

"It's hard to tell in this light," he said at last. "Something certainly stripped the flesh from this, but I don't see any tooth marks or scraping on the bone. If it's all right with you, I'm going to take this back outside where I can see it better."

John agreed, and Carson reached a latex covered hand down to grasp the bones. He soon discovered that they seemed to be solidly anchored in the roots. "We're going to have to cut away some of these roots to get to it," Teyla said, letting her firearm hang by its strap and taking her knife back from Elizabeth.

She began cutting at the roots and made some slow progress. Ronon joined her, and between the two of them they succeeded in removing the first layer of roots, only to discover several more below it.

They had cut away two more layers when Ronon declared, "This is taking too long." With barely enough warning for the rest of the group to clear out of the way, he drew his gun and blasted a hole the size of his head into the mass of roots.

At first they thought he'd managed to blow a hole through the rock as well, but when Elizabeth approached it, she saw the area more clearly. "Oh my God," she said, examining the edge. "John, this whole wall, it's nothing but roots." She looked around her as if noticing the tunnel for the first time. "I think this whole thing is one big root system."

John was about to approach when she reeled back from the hole, covering her nose and gagging slightly. "Oh my God," she said again, then moved to one side to throw up. He was about to ask what was wrong when the smell hit him, too. It emanated from the area beyond the hole in the roots, and smelled of decay and death.

Holding his nose and breathing shallowly through his mouth, he approach the hole, shining his flashlight into it. At first he had no idea what he was seeing, but eventually he recognized some bones, sitting in a gooey, soupy, bloody mass of partially broken down something that covered the floor of the passageway beyond the root wall. Numerous vines and roots and what appeared to be large leaves lined the walls of this passageway, dipping down into the mess. It was a moment longer before he realized that he was seeing what was left of the rest of the villagers.

He turned away and lost his breakfast as well, and he could hear the others doing the same. They all left the cave as quickly as humanly possible.

* * *

It took them a little while to recover, breathing deeply to eradicate all traces of the horrible smell. They sat on the grass, watching the tree line or the sky, avoiding looking at the cave entrance. No one spoke, and they all tried not to think about what they'd seen. To John's surprise, Carson had produced some mint gum from somewhere, and while it helped mask the stale taste in his mouth, every time his mind drifted back to what he'd seen and smelt John felt the bile start to rise.

Eventually they all stood, warily watching the cave entrance as they discussed what to do next.

"We can't leave yet," Elizabeth said, disgust on her face. "As much as I'd like to never have to face that again, we really should find out what happened to those people."

John disagreed. "Look, we know we're not getting anything from the Palimins. We don't know what happened to those people in there and I really don't want to stick around and find out first hand." Although he could tell that Rodney and Ronon agreed with him, he recognized the look that came over Elizabeth's face. He was going to lose this one.

The doctor in Carson wouldn't let him leave without making some attempt to resolve the issue of what had happened to the people, and Teyla, too, wanted to stay. Although Lorne clearly wanted to head back to Atlantis, he simply said that his mission this time round was to protect Elizabeth, so if she stayed here, he stayed here. Elizabeth turned to John. "We're staying."

They agreed that Carson and Teyla would head back to Atlantis for some hazmat suits while the rest of them waited here and tried to get some answers out of Alarad and his people.

By the time Carson and Teyla returned, the rest of them had gotten no further in finding answers. Instead, they all trooped back to the root-cave, where Carson and John suited up to go in. Carson was hoping to bring back some samples of the... er... remains. John was just hoping that breathing the odorless, filtered air would keep him from throwing up.

He nearly did gag when Carson gathered his sample. John had dealt with dead bodies before, had even caused some of them to become dead, but he'd never dealt with human remains that were so... soupy. If there was anything more disgusting out there, he didn't know what it was.

When they returned to the cave entrance, the rest of the group were waiting anxiously. "Well?" Elizabeth asked. "Did you get what you needed?"

"Oh, aye," Carson replied as he placed his container inside a medical cooler. Stripping off his suit he continued, "I'd like to take this back to be analyzed."

"Fine," John said. "Let's go now, then." He really wanted off this planet.

"One moment, Colonel," Teyla stopped him. "Dr. Brown asked us if we could bring back a sample of the plant that created this tunnel. She seemed to think it might aid us in understanding what happened to these people."

Rodney perked up at that. "Katie asked for that?" He pulled his knife. "How big of a sample?"

"I am unsure, Dr. McKay," Teyla told him.

"Well, the bigger the better I guess," and with that, Rodney proceeded to attack the roots nearest to him. Whenever he cut with his knife, though, the vines above him seemed to shiver.

"Well, that's new," John said, watching them warily. "Rodney, why don't you get away from those roots."

Ronon, too, watched the shaking vines. "That didn't happen earlier, in the cave."

"There were no vines on the wall we opened," Elizabeth reminded them.

Rodney remained oblivious to their concern. "I'll be done in a minute. I just need to cut the bottom section." He began hacking at a section of the root about twelve inches below his first cut.

"McKay, move!" John snapped. When the scientist showed no signs of doing so, Elizabeth reached forward to pull him back.

When John remembered the next few seconds, they always seemed to happen in slow motion, and at the same time so fast he could barely recall. Elizabeth's hand was on Rodney's shoulder when a vine from the roof detached, swinging impossibly fast towards the two people. He watched in horror as it arced towards her forearm, striking it with such force that John could hear the bone snap. She screamed in pain, dropping to her knees and clutching her wrist, and John was sickened to see the bone protruding from her arm.

A second vine whistled above her head, catching Rodney in the side with a wicked looking thorn that pinned him to the root he had been cutting. Ironically, the force pushed his knife the rest of the way home, severing the root section.

Everyone was yelling now, and Lorne, John, Teyla and Ronon emptied their guns into the vine above Rodney's head. The bullets finally severed it from the rest of the plant, and Carson sprinted forward to help the injured man and woman.

John turned to Lorne and snapped, "Get to the gate and dial it, now!" He didn't wait to see the Major take off running, but spun back to Elizabeth, who was now rocking on the ground, silent tears pouring down her face. Teyla was crouched beside her, and as much as John wanted to join them he knew Rodney was the more pressing concern now.

Carson had managed to detach Rodney from the wall, although the thorn was still through his side. "I don't want to remove it yet," Carson explained, "not without better equipment around me. But we don't know anything about this plant; for all we know it could be poisonous." John could tell that the doctor was worried. He glanced at Rodney for a reaction, but his teammate had obviously passed out from the pain.

"We need to get to the gate," John said, looking over his wounded group. "Ronon, can you carry Rodney without bouncing him too much?"

The big man nodded, holstering his weapon and reaching for the scientist. Carson gathered up his medical supplies, including the sample he'd collected earlier and the piece of root Rodney had cut. Glancing briefly back at the still writhing vines, John turned to Elizabeth. He noticed that Teyla had helped her stand, and though she was clearly in pain, she seemed capable of moving on her own.

Teyla read his worry. "We will be fine," she assured him. "I can help Dr. Weir."

John nodded, and they took off as quickly as possible through the forest towards the gate.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer etc. in first chapter

Author's Note: Last chapter, then the epilogue!

* * *

As the room came slowly into focus, Elizabeth frowned. She didn't remember leaving the light on when she went to bed. For that matter, she didn't remember going to bed. She turned her head to one side. And come to think of it, she also didn't remember having another bed in her quarters, especially one that Rodney McKay would be using. 

"Hey," a quiet voice caught her attention.

Turning her head the other way, she recognized John. Shortly after that, it finally came together that she was in the infirmary on Atlantis. Then it all came back – the hellish sojourn on Palim, the sickening crack of her bones, the excruciating pain and the horrible trip back to the gate.

"Guess that shot really knocked you for a loop," John remarked. Elizabeth cocked her head, thinking. She vaguely remembered Carson giving her some kind of painkiller after they reached Atlantis.

"Yeah," she said, hoarsely. John picked up a cup of water from the table beside her, and handed it to her

"Thanks," she said, taking a sip and handing it back. The movement jarred her broken arm slightly, but it only ached dully so she supposed the painkiller was still in effect. Nodding to her other side, she asked, "Rodney?"

A shadow flitted briefly across John's face. "It was touch and go for a little bit, but he'll pull through. Probably be begging to get back to his lab in no time." Seeing the worry on her face, he grinned slightly to lighten the mood and added, "Of course, as soon as he's healed I'll have to kill him."

"Why?" she asked, more out of form than any other concern. She knew John respected and at times even liked McKay, but that didn't stop him from threatening the other with untimely death on a weekly basis.

"If he'd listened to me the first time, you wouldn't have gone over there to get him," he replied seriously. "So in a way, it's his fault your arm's broken."

"John..." she said warningly. "You can't possibly blame Rodney for this. No one could have known what would happen."

He sighed. "I know. I don't really blame him – if anything I blame myself. We should have been out of there a lot sooner. I shouldn't have let us stay." Seeing that she was about to protest, he held up a hand. "You don't think I'm at fault, either. Well, tough. You don't get to talk me out of it until you're feeling better."

She seemed to accept that, but she was looking far too serious for his pleasure, so he added, "But can we not tell McKay that I don't blame him? At least not yet? I'm really looking forward to giving him hell!" He grinned boyishly again, and Elizabeth smiled back.

"You really are twelve sometimes, aren't you?"

He had no response to that, which was just as well since the painkillers seemed to be taking over again. As she drifted towards sleep, she felt the slight pressure of his hand on her good one, and heard him say softly, "I'm glad you're okay, Elizabeth."

She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

* * *

When Elizabeth awoke the second time, her head was clearer, for which she was grateful. However, the painkiller had obviously begun to wear off, and her arm was throbbing. She was feeling an uncomfortable pressure in her bladder as well. 

She noticed that John was still by her bed, dozing in a chair with his feet propped on an empty bed, and she didn't want to disturb him. She looked around, hoping to flag down one of the doctors – she really needed to pee. There was no one in sight, but she turned a on her side hoping to see a little further. The movement jostled her arm again, and she whimpered slightly.

There was a muffled thud behind her as John's boots hit the floor, and a second later he was in her line of sight. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice laced with concern.

"Nothing," she said. "Just bumped my arm."

He took note of her position. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find Carson or one of the others."

Concern became outright worry. "Why? Is something wrong?"

Now Elizabeth felt slightly embarrassed. How did one tell one's military commander that one had to pee? "I just need one, John."

"Can I help?"

"No!" she said, more sharply than she intended.

He was taken aback. "Ooh-kay..."

The hurt expression on his face bothered her, and she felt compelled to explain somehow. "It's not that I don't appreciate... I just... John, I've been on a saline drip for a little while now, and all that liquid has to go somewhere."

Well, that wasn't so bad, and the expression on his face was priceless. "Oh," he replied. "I'll... ah... I'll just go get someone then." He hurried away.

When a nurse came her way a few moments later, Elizabeth was extremely grateful to see her. She removed the IV from Elizabeth's hand, and helped her from the bed. A few minutes later, she helped her back into it, and left, after promising Elizabeth she would go find Carson.

A few moments later the cheerful Scottish doctor entered the room. "Good morning, Dr. Weir!" he said. "How are you feeling today?"

"I'm fine, Carson. A little pain, but nothing I can't handle. How's Rodney?" It wasn't that she didn't believe John, but it would be nice to hear it from a real doctor.  
Carson's expression didn't change. "I was worried for a bit, but he'll be fine. He'll be a long time recovering, though, so you won't be sending him offworld again anytime soon."

Elizabeth grimaced. "I'm tempted not to let _anyone_ offworld again anytime soon. Did we learn anything from the...samples?" Her voice trailed off slightly as she remembered what one of those samples consisted of.

"Oh, aye, a fair bit. We learned more when we went back to the planet, though." Carson knew it was a mistake as soon as he said it.

"When we _what_?"

"Uh, perhaps Colonel Sheppard should explain that bit."

"Yes," she said, narrowing her eyes. "Perhaps he should. Why don't you go find him, and I'll meet him in my office."

Carson had to smile at how she'd slipped that last bit in. "No need to find him. He'll be right outside the door. And you can talk to him here."

"Carson, I can hardly be expected to debrief him in the middle of the infirmary," she said, trying to be reasonable.

For some reason, Carson was finding this extremely funny now that he knew he wouldn't be the one in trouble, so he risked picking up on her unintentional double entendre. "Well, Elizabeth, I can safely say that we would _all_ prefer you didn't _debrief_ him in the infirmary."

She blushed slightly, but shook her head. "Twelve year olds. All of you. Seriously, Carson, I need to leave."

"And leave you may, so long as it's only to go to your quarters and rest. I don't want to see you in that office of yours for at least another two days."

Knowing it was the best she'd get, Elizabeth agreed. "Then go get John, and tell him to meet me at my room. Tell him he'd better be prepared with some answers."

"Aye," Carson said, leaving the room. He stopped just outside the door where John hovered, shamelessly eavesdropping.

"You know she'll be back in her office tomorrow," John told him.

"I know. That's why I said two days. If I'd said one, she'd be there this afternoon. Promise me you'll keep her in her room for the rest of today, at least."

John raised his eyebrows. "Doctor's orders?" he said, grinning.

Carson rolled his eyes. "Go. She'll be halfway to the door by now."

Elizabeth was, indeed, making her way slowly from the bed to the infirmary door. John easily inserted himself on her uninjured side, placing his hand on her back to guide and support her. He instantly snatched it back when he came in contact with bare skin – stupid backless hospital gowns. Unable to help himself he dropped his gaze. She was wearing pants, he noticed with relief (and a bit of disappointment). The nurse must have helped her with that.

Well, as interesting as all this was, she couldn't exactly wander the halls in a hospital gown. Stripping off his own jacket, he draped it over her shoulders, then returned his hand to her back.

"I can walk on my own, you know," she said irritably. Touching the hem of his jacket with her good hand, she belatedly added, "Thanks."

"Your welcome," he replied, leaving his hand where it was. She sighed and gave up the fight. Her arm was hurting and all she really wanted to do was sit on her nice, comfy bed and wrap herself in the fuzzy blanket she'd snuck on board the Daedalus last time. But she needed to know what had happened while she was out.

When they reached her room, she realized something else. She'd been dying to change out of the hospital gown and into a real shirt, but she didn't really feel up to managing pullovers with her arm yet. She had a few button up shirts, but she was pretty sure she couldn't handle buttonholes either. And bras were probably completely beyond her – she was going to have to get someone to help her dress for a little while.

She eyed the oversized t-shirt lying on her bed. It usually served as a nightshirt, and she'd carelessly left it out before leaving for Palim. Now it looked like the best bit of clothing she could ever imagine. But how was she supposed to get it on?

John watched the internal struggle as it played out on her face. He could guess at what she was thinking. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll help you get it on, and then I can untie the neck of the gown and you can pull it off from underneath."

His plan worked, although they bumped her arm several times in the process, and by the end she was near to tears. Finally feeling better attired, if still uncomfortably braless, Elizabeth settled back on her bed, leaning against her pillows. John grabbed the armchair on one side of the room and dragged it to the bedside, dumping his discarded jacket in to the floor beside him.  
"So," she began, giving him a stern look. "What's this I hear about you going back to the planet?"

He winced slightly. He'd known she wouldn't be happy about that – hell, he hadn't really wanted to go back. "It'll be easier if I start at the beginning," he said.

She nodded. "Just don't think we're forgetting about it."

"Yeah," he muttered. "Well, after Carson got Rodney stabilized and your arm was taken care of, he started analysis of the... stuff. The botanists were already working on the plant samples. Best we can figure is the plant released some kind of pollen or something, I didn't really get that part, and drugged a bunch of the Palimins. We still don't know why they decided to pack everything up neatly, or how it caused selective amnesia among some of them, but the rest of the people were just drawn into the cave-place and..." he trailed off momentarily.

"Yes?" Elizabeth prompted.

"This plant – it's kind of like some of the carnivorous plants on Earth, only lots bigger, so it needed more food. Basically it drugs the people and then lures them in to be dinner. It seems to lure in all the animals and bugs, too. Carson found some enzymes or acids or something in the stuff that told him that."

"I see," she said, looking mildly disgusted. "But why did that occasion your going back to the planet."

"Well, the botanists wanted to know how big this thing was, that it needed so many people and animals. So we went back in a puddle jumper, with some kind of scan-thingy on board." His face was grim, and Elizabeth knew she wouldn't like what came next.

"Scan-thingy?" she interrupted, desperate to insert some levity into the gruesome description. "And you thought letting Ford name things was bad." She knew instantly that her attempt had failed, when the mention of the missing lieutenant's name only made him look sadder. "What then?" she asked, bringing them back on topic.

"It's bad, Elizabeth. This plant thing covers a lot of the planet. _A lot_. Maybe three quarters of the total landmass, and as far as we can figure, it's all one system. Pretty much every plant we saw on Palim is somehow part of this one. The scientists are guessing that it spends a lot of the time dormant, and then every couple of millennia it needs to feed. We found a couple other villages, but from what we could tell they were at half occupancy. There were some pockets of animals, too, but it seems like this thing eats half the animals and people on the planet every couple thousand years."

The time frame caught her attention. "Every couple thousand years? So that's why all their stories started at that time?"

"Yeah. Looks like that was the last time it fed. And God only knows how long it's been doing this. The botanists were even wondering if it has some kind of rudimentary sentience, which is why it attacked you and Rodney, but we still don't really know enough to guess. Once we figured the feeding part out, we tried landing at a couple of the villages. We thought we'd try to evacuate the people to another planet, then maybe give Rodney a shot at destroying this one." That earned a weak smile from her.

"They didn't seem to want to listen – a couple of places they even attacked us," John continued. "So we had to just leave them there. And we don't know if we can kill the plant, or what it would do to the planet if we did. This whole thing's gonna happen again."

Elizabeth could see the guilt eating at him. She leaned forward, staring into his eyes. "John, you can't blame yourself for this. Those people had a choice. They chose not to listen, not to believe you, and there's nothing you can do about it. You have to stop blaming yourself – "

John cut her off. "Not now."

She wasn't surprised. As much as they enjoyed talking to each other, flirting with each other, and as close as they had grown in their time on Atlantis, there were times when things got too personal, too intense, and one or the other would put a halt to it. Someday, she knew, they'd revisit all those "not nows," but she was happy to put it off. She had a feeling when that day came they'd either end up destroying their friendship or becoming lovers, and she didn't know which possibility scared her more.

The silence stretched for a bit before John shook off the moment. "It sounds like a bad science fiction movie," he said. "Killer plant takes over the planet."

Elizabeth grinned at that. "John, have you looked around yourself? We're in a 10,000 year old city in a distant galaxy, hiding from life-sucking aliens. We're _living_ in a science fiction movie."

To her relief he laughed at that, and she knew the crisis moments were truly past. She couldn't help feeling a little bit of a need to reassure him though. Placing her good hand on his where it rested on her bed, she said, "Don't worry about the Palimins, John. As disgusting as all this is, it isn't exactly as immediately life and death as some of our other situations. We've got two thousand years to figure something out, after all."

This time the silence was comfortable, and she knew John appreciated her words. Finally he settled back in his chair and propped his feet on her bed. "So. That's the long and short of it. Now you're supposed to be resting, so get to sleep, Dr. Weir."

"I'm not sleeping with you sitting there," she said.

"Carson told me to make sure you stay in your room." When she raised an eyebrow, he added, "Doctor's orders."

"I have no intention of leaving my room right now, but until I'm back in my office I need to know someone's looking after this place. I need you to be out there, John."

He could appreciate the logic of her words, and as much as he wanted to stay and look after her, he really did have work to do. "Fine," he agreed, standing up to leave. "But you are staying here for the rest of the day at least."

She said nothing, but he took her silence as assent and left the room. A few seconds later he stuck his head back around the door. "Oh, and Elizabeth? I'm stationing Major Lorne outside your room, just in case."

From the fleeting look of disappointment on her face, he knew he'd guessed right. She'd said she had no intention of leaving her room _right_ now, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try in ten minutes or half an hour. He grinned at her and she smiled wryly in defeat.


	5. Epilogue

Disclaimer etc. in first chapter.

Author's Note: Yay! The end! Now I have to work on my Pirate AU fic. I'm at 2000+ words, and still in chapter one. There should be around ten chapters. Is that bad?

* * *

Elizabeth leaned against the infirmary door, wishing she could cross her arms but having to settle for resting one hand under the sling on her left arm. She'd been in the cast for a week now, and with the help of Kate Heightmeyer had developed a morning routine that allowed her to show up in the office fully dressed each morning. This morning she'd only been there a few minutes when Carson called for her to come see her chief scientist.

Although she had stopped by the infirmary every day since her own release, this was the first time Rodney was not only awake but also fully alert. He was off the morphine drip and complaining loudly to all who came near. On top of that, he was begging to be allowed access to his computer. Carson had agreed, provided that he spent no more than 20 minutes on it at a time. "You were impaled by a plant, Rodney, and you've had major surgery. You need your rest."

"Yes, yes," Rodney answered. "Yes I was terribly, almost fatally wounded, and I'm in a great deal of pain, and you'll all have to remember that from now on. But I need to know how Zelenka's been screwing things up while I was out of it."

Elizabeth had been able to talk to him briefly, and had soothed away some of the guilt Rodney felt for inadvertently causing her injury. She pointed out that if the vine hadn't broken her arm, she wouldn't have dropped to the ground and would have been impaled with him or instead of him.

She had just been leaving when she noticed Katie Brown entering. Normally she wouldn't want to intrude, but she had such a hard time imagining Rodney as a romantic that she had to stay and watch for a moment. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but the expressions that crossed Rodney's face were priceless.

She chuckled slightly, and was surprised when a voice behind her asked, "What so funny?"

Turning Elizabeth found John leaning on the wall opposite her. She smiled at him. "Nothing. I was just thinking how ironic it was."

"What was?"

"Well, here Rodney has been focusing on geology because botany isn't a 'real' science. But he not only manages to get all of Palim's geology wrong, he's also laid low by botany" and here she glanced back at the couple by the bed, noting the eager, happy, nervous look on Rodney's face "in more ways than one!"

It wasn't really all that funny, but John laughed some anyway. His laughter set her off, and soon Elizabeth was near the point of tears she was laughing so hard. Part of her recognized that it was relief at knowing her team was, if not whole again, at least well on the road to healing.

John stared at her for a moment. "Dr. Weir," he teased, "are those painkillers Carson's giving you making you high?"

Raising an eyebrow, she smiled slyly. "Maybe they are."

He waggled his eyebrows comically, a ridiculous gesture that somehow managed to be endearing. "I like it!" he exclaimed, and they both started laughing again.

They were still laughing as he placed a guiding hand on her back and they turned to head back to the control room.


End file.
